Minimalism (Page 2)

I was unsure if I should post this or not, we haven’t told too many people that our house was broken into, we try not to consider it a big deal. And honestly, it’s not, because they didn’t steal anything. There was nothing to be stolen. Here’s the story. Our minimalist home We embraced minimalism almost one year ago – we sold, donated, recycled or in extreme cases threw away, most of our possessions. We kept the essentials, the things we use regularly and the things we love. You can read about our adventure here. Mid-March this year we left our London flat to escapeRead More →

In this post, I’ll share with you the usual offenders when it comes to items we overspend on. But let me start with a little exercise. Do I buy it or not? A quick tip to help you decide. For quite a while now I changed my way of shopping completely. Actually, the way I look at prices. How do we pay for stuff? With money. How do we get the money? By working – around 8 hours a day, from 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. We’re almost never home during the week, and we spend the weekend cleaning, cooking and organizing. So whenRead More →

When we massively decluttered last summer, the room that needed the most work was the kitchen. It’s the smallest room in the house and just so you can have an idea of its size, only one person can be in at a time. So to do a purge, we first had to decide what we use most and what makes cooking easy for us. And this is what stayed. The best tools to have in a minimalist kitchen 1. Electric kettle For any recipe that requires hot or boiling water, we have it available at the touch of a button. We also use it toRead More →

I don’t think humans are meant to multitask. And still, we do it all the time. Or at least we think we do it, but end up not giving the proper time and attention to neither of the activities we’re involved in. “Not being in the present moment” is a very trendy way of saying this. For example, if we’re in a meeting and we also catch up on emails while someone’s talking, are we really listening to that person? We think we do and then we leave the room thinking “what the hell was this meeting about?”. Why do we multitask? I’ve been workingRead More →

We started our minimalism journey this summer. You can read a few previous blog posts to see how we decluttered: Becoming minimalists. 7 reasons why you should do it too Decluttering clothes Declutter phase – Bedding Declutter phase – Books & DVDs The true cost of your unwanted things Decluttering done – what’s next? Ditch the disposables. How much I saved in a year But what’s been happening since then? This is a continuous learning journey – we keep experimenting, acquiring new habits and adapting them to our own lifestyle. No one way will work for everyone. Minimalist habits to try out 1. Selling stuffRead More →

We’ve been decluttering and sharing our story for the past month. A month! That’s a lot of time spent cleaning. Now that we’re happier with the remaining possessions, what shall we do next? You might say “nothing”, but doing nothing will probably cause the clutter to come back. So we’ve come up with some ideas to keep things from piling up again and continue our journey to minimalism. One thing a day Meaning we’re going to get rid of 1 thing every day for the next year. When I told this to Alin, he freaked out, but after explaining that it’s in fact 1 itemRead More →

On your way to minimalism? You can read the previous posts about our journey at the links below: Why are we becoming minimalists and 7 reasons you should do it too How to declutter clothes Declutter Phase 2 – Bedding and towels Declutter Phase 3 – Books, DVDs & Magazines In this post, I talk about the less obvious costs of the items that occupy your home and constantly need your attention; or, even worse, that you forgot about in your garage and you spend time organizing once in a while. Five costs that you might not consider when purchasing a new item 1. MoneyRead More →

We’re becoming minimalists. Here’s our journey so far Why are we becoming minimalists Declutter Phase 1 – Clothes Declutter Phase 2 – Bedding and towels After fixing our closets and towel drawers, we also took care of shoes and accessories and then started looking at books, DVDs, CDs and decorations. Compared to other stuff, they just sit there. They occupy space and nothing more. Books Books are a sensitive issue because since we were kids, we were taught to love and respect books. We don’t throw away books, and we shouldn’t lend them to friends because they might forget to give them back. We gathered them allRead More →

We’re becoming minimalists. Read the previous articles from the journey 7 Reasons to become minimalist and how to get started Declutter clothes. Tips and strategies We took the next step into minimalism, and this time we decluttered our bedding sets and towels. They were spread around two closets and a few other drawers, so we made everything fit into two drawers and one additional space for guests in the guest bedroom. Declutter bedding and towels. How many do you need? If you read the previous post, for the clothes declutter we made three piles and sorted everything into Stays, Maybe and Goes. Then had another think forRead More →

Clothes are the best way to start the decluttering process. They are easy to gather in one place, and they give you a great feeling of accomplishment once you’re done. We started the process open-minded and willing to let go. But before getting into details about how we got on, here are a few things to have in mind if you plan to do the same. Decluttering clothes. 11 tips to let go 1. Clothes don’t have feelings. They are just a piece of fabric used to cover yourself or make your private parts more comfortable. 2. People won’t notice that you only have fiveRead More →